On Sat, 13 Apr 1996, Jerry Whiting wrote:
We're shooting for a May 1 release for Windows with the Mac and DOS 6 weeks behind and VAX/Sun a month after that. We're aiming for the stars: encryption, time/date stamps, signatures, message digests, etc. all based on Blowfish. We're doing a core engine with APIs, a standardized file format, and extensability for other developers. We're very committed to making the spec including the API and file format VERY PUBLIC. Like I said, we're aiming high.
This sounds like an interesting project. However, I'm having trouble understanding your goals. Blowfish is a block cipher. Why are you using it to do anything but encryption? I know there are cryptographic constructions that allow you to do message digests with block ciphers, but they are slow and not guaranteed to be as secure as the underlying block ciphers. I suggest that instead you use an established message digest algorithm such as SHA. How are you planning to do timestamps and signatures? I presume you'll need some other algorithms besides Blowfish. Also, will the software be freeware, shareware, or commercial? Wei Dai